The Yukon Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) will continue to consider complaints against the Department of Health and Social Services and the Yukon Hospital Corp.

Both bodies challenged that Commissioner Diane McLeod-McKay lost jurisdiction over the complaints made against them by not completing her consideration of these complaints within 150-day timelines established under the Health Information Privacy and Management Act (HIPMA).

However, McLeod-McKay found that these timelines are not mandatory – and therefore, the complaints will remain under her jurisdiction.

“The consequences of a loss of jurisdiction are substantial because the complainants can only address their complaints through HIPMA,” the commissioner said in a statement Monday.

“Under HIPMA, complainants have the right to an independent investigation into their complaints.

“There is no other legislative avenue available to them. Independent investigation is a key measure of holding custodians accountable for compliance,” the statement reads.

The complaint against Health and Social Services was received Nov. 29, 2016.

It alleged that the department was collecting and using personal health information from a physician’s patient files to remunerate the physician for services rendered, and that the department “does not have adequate security measures in place to protect the personal health information collected.”

The complaint against the Yukon Hospital Corp. was received April 19, 2017.

It alleged that the hospital corporation disclosed the complainant and her child’s personal health information to a community health centre.